My "Farm" Drive

One of the places I work is about a 40-minute drive away from my current apartment. There are two ways to get to work, both about the same time. One is all highway, one some highway and some back roads through farm and field. Admittedly, the more scenic route takes about five minutes longer—more if I get stuck behind some slow moving traffic.

Guess which route I usually take. The scenic one! When I first started this job, I usually took the highway because it was a little quicker. I only took the “farm” route if I knew traffic was going to be bad on the highway. But, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. When I drove the highway route, I often got to work feeling grouchy and irritated. Often insane drivers punctuated my drive—the end result me fuming and cursing as I drove. This didn’t happen on my farm route. If anything, I’d often find myself smiling and feeling inexplicably better. The cute barns, fields of corn at certain points in the year, the horizon of trees stretching Heavenward. This was soothing and calming and I arrived at work with a smile on my face.

It merely took a week or two after this initial discovery to switch to the longer but more scenic route. I suppose I am lucky enough to have some luxury of time so I can make the choice to let my eyes feast on some pretties along the way. And, I am lucky that there is a route that circumvents most of the highway driving. I really hope that I will always be so lucky to have somewhere in my life, if not my home, that I am surrounded by barns, open fields, clusters of trees, or just somewhere free of pavement, construction, and crowding.